A me A sure of hA ppiness

We spend enough time looking for happiness that it makes perfect sense to work at the task, maybe hard enough to burrow a trail in the road of life.

As we all know, though, living your life and loving it don’t always go handin-hand.

But it happens, and that’s why, when I met this particular woman a few months ago, I thought she was one of the lucky ones. She was confident. She walked with authority. She seemed happy.

Turns out she grew up in a small town, went to school nearby and then, for reasons not entirely clear even to her, she came to Dallas to live the dream. She didn’t have a job, an apartment or even any friends here — she just decided she wanted to live in Dallas, and so she did.

It was great, she says of the beginning, full of opportunities and excitement. Anything seemed possible, and trying to make it so was part of the fun.

Her story is a lot like the stories you’ll read in our magazine this month. The high school seniors we’re profiling worked hard to dig out of holes not always of their making to earn a high school diploma and, hopefully, a ticket to a better life.

As you’ll notice from the seniors’ stories, these students are filled with optimism and enthusiasm. Why wouldn’t they be? They’re young, and they have every reason to expect their lives to unfold according to their plans.

Perhaps their dreams will be realized. Then again, perhaps not. Most of us have already been there, right? We may be living the dream, but it’s likely not the dream we had in high school.

After many years of doing essentially the same thing, the woman I met says “fun” and “excitement” don’t pop into many of her sentences or weekends. Life is fine, she says. It’s just not what she thought it would be.

So much promise and so many plans when she first arrived. Now it all seems so long ago.

“I was so brave back then,” she says wistfully. “I wasn’t afraid of anything.”

She’s doing fine, so no need to worry. She just wishes things were different. Not specifically different. Just different.

And she’s using her younger self as the ultimate measuring stick.

That’s not what I wish for our graduating seniors. Instead, to measure their success, I hope they use one of those long, retractable tape measures that can be extended and snapped back with a flick of the thumb. doing by writing to 6301 Gaston, Suite 820, Dallas 75214; or email rwamre@advocatemag.com.

To measure their success, i hope they use one of those long, retractable tape measures that can be extended and snapped back with a flick of the thumb. That’s what success and happiness are anyway, just quick flicks that can leave as quickly as they arrive.

That’s what success and happiness are anyway, just quick flicks that can leave as quickly as they arrive.

Better than just hoping for success is remaining brave enough to keep trying new things. It’s hard to be bored or unhappy when you don’t allow yourself time to look back at the ruts in your road.

DISTRIBUTION PH/214.560.4203

ADVERTISING PH/214.560.4203 office administrator: JUDY LILES

214.560.4203 / jliles@advocatemag.com display sales manager: BRIAN BEAVERS

214.560.4201 / bbeavers@advocatemag.com senior advertising consultant: AMY DURANT

214.560.4205 / adurant@advocatemag.com senior advertising consultant: KRISTY GACONNIER

214.560.4213 / kgaconnier@advocatemag.com advertising consultants

CATHERINE PATE

214.292.0494 / cpate@advocatemag.com

NORA JONES

214.292.0962 / njones@advocatemag.com

FRANK McCLENDON

214.560.4215 / fmcclendon@advocatemag.com classified manager: PRIO BERGER

214.560.4211 / pberger@advocatemag.com classified consultant

SALLY ACKERMAN

214.560.4202 / sackerman@advocatemag.com

GREG KINNEY

214.292.0485 / gkinney@advocatemag.com marketing director: L AUREN S HAMBECK

214.292.0486 / lshambeck@advocatemag.com

EDITORIAL PH/ 214.292.2053 publisher: CHRISTINA HUGHES BABB

214.560.4204 / chughes@advocatemag.com senior editor: KERI MITCHELL

214.292.0487 / kmitchell@advocatemag.com editors:

MONICA S. N AGY 214.292.2053 / mnagy@advocatemag.com

RACHEL STONE 214.292.0490 / rstone@advocatemag.com

B RITTANY N UNN 214.635.2122 / bnunn@advocatemag.com senior art director: JYNNETTE NEAL 214.560.4206 / jneal@advocatemag.com designers: JEANINE MICHNA-BALES, LARRY OLIVER, KRIS SCOTT, JESSE DIAz contributing editors: JEFF SIEGEL, SALLY WAMRE, WHITNEY THOMPSON contributors: GAYLA BROOKS, SEAN CHAFFIN, GEORGE MASON, BLAIR MONIE, ELLEN RAFF photo editor: DANNY FULGENCIO

214.635.2121 / danny@advocatemag.com photographers: JEANINE MICHNA BALES, MARK DAVIS, ELLIOTT MUñOz interns: RACHEL CARTER, ETHAN HEALY, HILARY SCHLEIER, VICTORIA HILBERT neighborhoods, one copy per reader. Advocate was founded in 1991 by Jeff Siegel, Tom Zielinski and Rick Wamre.

The sign should stay [“What is the future of the Alamo Plaza sign?” Advocate daily news blog, March 25]. We’ve already lost too many of these great historical markers.

—Deanne Teeter

Keep the sign! It’s a cultural and historic landmark. —cynthiamulcahy

What? I was at the meeting where the developer said the sign wouldn’t be moved and that everybody should just relax. Now they want to move the sign. Leave it where it is, or else you are going to be branded as liars that can’t be trusted. No real estate developer wants that legacy.

Oakcliff Blues

To be clear, we have plans in development for using the sign on our site, which was our original intention. However, community members have come forward suggesting that we allow it to be used as public art to represent West Dallas and the Fort Worth Avenue corridor. As we’ve said before, we’re open to all ideas for breathing new, vibrant life into the sign and allowing it to benefit the greater West Dallas area. —cooper Smith Koch, of SYlVan | ThiRTY

Nick Badovinus is a James Beard Award semifinalist in the category of restaurateur for his astoundingly popular restaurants Neighborhood Services, Off-Site Kitchen and the Tried and True. He is one of the hottest dudes in the Dallas restaurant business, and he lives in Kessler Park. Yet amid our neighborhood’s culinary renaissance, there is no restaurant here from Flavor Hook, Badovinus’ 5-year-old company.

Where is our Oak Cliff Neighborhood Services?

I’m always a little torn because it’s my sanctuary. Over there, I can be a customer. It’s nice to have a place to go where you’re just home. When I take the left on Sylvan and start going up the hill, I’m going home; I’m not going to work. It’s really nice to live there and not work there. Not that I would mind a live/ work relationship, but it’s nice to have some separation.

So you love Oak Cliff, just like the rest of us. It’s just got the best people in the city. My neighbors are all re- ally wonderful. It’s a wonderful place to live. The topography is great. I love my house. It’s just a great place to be. It’s its own thing. The Cliff is just most wonderful in the ways I personally identify with.

Where do you like to eat in Oak Cliff?

El Si Hay… the corn man is… it’s my favorite place. It’s one of the reasons I moved there, honestly. We’ve been getting corn from there for a long time. It’s unique. It wasn’t part of my experience growing up [in Washington state]. I always bring out-of-towners there.

What other restaurants in the ’hood do you like?

Right across the street from the corn man is Bolsa. What they’ve done is fantastic. The food is consistently good; it always has a good vibe. What Spillers [Group] has done over there [Eno’s] is great. I like to hang out at Ten Bells. I like Nova...what Driftwood is doing is just phenomenal. Boulevardier is great Oh, and I’m really excited for Jay Jerrier’s New York pizza to come. It’s going to be different.

Do we really need another pizza place in Oak Cliff?

You can never have too much. It’s totally impossible. And this is going to be different than any other place.

What restaurant would you like to see in Oak Cliff?

If you’re a serial restaurateur … I love restaurants. I think I’m far more fan-boy than expert. Going into a place that’s got a small footprint and is independent. If someone’s really got the confidence to look into their soul and produce a personal experience it’s a very human-type deal. I love seeing people’s belief systems on display, and it takes great courage to do that.

What are you most proud of with your restaurants?

They’re all able to pay their own bills. That’s pretty great. Making good food isn’t the end; it’s a means. The definition of being in business is that it’s sustainable, and we have four very sustainable little joints, and a place where people can earn a living and take care of their families. [Flavor Hook employs about 125 people.] They’re able to pay for school or buy a motorcycle or do whatever is important for their happiness.

What makes your concepts so successful?

I wanted to create nothing of real scale but a federation of independently minded businesses that share some DNA, all built on a similar foundation. The skeleton is the same, but the flesh is very different.

I’m very dedicated to the idea of creating your place. I want to create a neighborhood place. Everyone I worked for always had big ideas. I never worked anywhere that I wasn’t working for someone who had big ambitions and wanted to be at the top. It’s infectious. I don’t know how to be any different.

What’s next for Flavor Hook?

A second Off Site Kitchen. We want to connect the market with an easier distribution model, if you will. We’ve got to make that product easier to get. The space [on Irving Boulevard] is very tight. The sweet spot is between 60 and 100 degrees, where people will wait outside, and that’s about it. We’re committed to doing more Neighborhood Services. We’ve got tons of ideas. Ideas are the easy part; there’s never a shortage of ideas in the world, but I think a couple of them might be good ones. There’s a seafood business we’d like to do. A hoofbased protein business; a premium protein house. Pizza is always it’s a siren song. I’m an enthusiast. I always try to do stuff that we’re naturally enthusiastic about. I won’t be offering a stir-fry deal. I’m not the one to bring authentic Peruvian to the market. Not my deal. We will do things that we have legitimacy to author. If we think we’ve got something to say in the marketplace, we will work for that.

Tell us about the James Beard thing. What was your reaction to being a semifinalist?

That’s a team deal. Everyone contributes to that. From line cooks to vendors, everyone associated with our company is a part of that. It’s a true team award, and it’s humbling to make it that far. It’s humbling to be a part of that. This is a team sport. What’s happening behind the bar is just as important as the service and what’s coming out of the kitchen all of those things need to work for a restaurant to work. Our business models are sound, and I’m proud of that. But it’s not good food for the sake of doing good food. It’s a financial vehicle for people to have families and live their dreams. —Rachel Stone